Voice mail is ubiquitous in the telecommunications world. Calling a voice mail system is the most common method for reviewing voice mail messages. However, the method is linear, requiring a user to listen to each message in turn, with the ability to skip messages being the user's only option for navigating a list of voice mail messages.
A voice mail message includes recorded speech. The subject and/or content of a voice mail message cannot be ascertained without actually listening to the message. The only information currently provided to the user by a voice mail message is a name of a person who created the message, and a date and time of the message. Some products enable users to access voice messages mail with a computer. Such products may present the voice mail messages in a list form, along with the dates and times of the messages, and the names or phone numbers of the persons who created the messages (if available).